After Autumn
by rainediamond
Summary: Percy considers himself an average college student. He goes to class, he plays on his laptop, but he does his work. But there's this kid, Nico, who actually seems to like school. After Percy starts to fall for him, the boy doesn't show up one day, and Percy doesn't know what to do about the sinking feeling of panic in his gut. PERCICO. College AU.


**Hi guys, so I started this Percico college AU on tumblr, and I thought I may as well post it here too. It'll probably be a two-parter. Please R &R!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.**

Percy Jackson was the type of college kid who went to class, sat near the back, and only tuned in to the professor in between looking at social media sites. He never participated unless called on, and even though he did his work, he never cared for the attention of the professor, he didn't think any college kids did. At least, he didn't until his third year at Olympus University, when a certain little brunette in a certain class changed his mind.

The kid was probably a freshman, Percy could almost see the new-student aura around the boy for the first few weeks of History of Ancient Civilizations, a class that the boy seemed to love and Percy was only taking to meet a requirement for his degree in 'wildlife conservation in the physical world'.

Percy quickly learned the boy's name (Nico) when he was the only one in the class to actually participate and discuss the readings with the teacher. Nico was that rare type of student who actually seemed to like talking, and it baffled Percy for a long time. Percy had done the readings too, but between his dyslexia and lack of interest in the subject, most of the points had already slipped from his mind by the time he got to class.

At first, Nico's enthusiasm was irritating. Percy didn't trust anyone who could form coherent sentences at 8am, but eventually, Nico's enthusiasm became infectious. Percy went from being annoyed by the boy's constant discussion with the professor, to actually looking forward to it. In order to better understand Nico's positions, Percy read the book more attentively, even doing extra research when he didn't understand something.

Within the first three weeks, Percy had already begun searching for the boy when the crowd would move into the lecture hall. He would smile to himself when he was able to spot the messy mop of dark locks, almost always accompanied by a punk band t-shirt.

Now in week nine, they had just gotten back the grades from midterms, and Percy was on his way through the doors, into the grand lecture hall that always managed to be a few degrees too hot or too cold.

His emerald eyes were already scanning the crowd intently, looking for Nico in the throngs of bleary-eyed, caffeinated zombies. He frowned when he sat down, and he still had not found the boy.

When the Professor Chiron arrived, even he seemed surprised by Nico's absence. That wasn't good. Percy had been willing to bet that Nico was the type of student to send an email if he couldn't make it to class. It didn't feel right that he was missing, and Percy spent the hour wondering if the olive-skinned brainiac was okay, trying to not let his mind wander to all of the negative possibilities.

But what if Nico was hurt? What if he'd been in an accident? Percy felt his heart clench, panic flooding him, and worry over Nico nearly taking his breath away. This was completely irrational, Percy barely knew anything about Nico, and yet he was worried about him the same way he would have worried about Annabeth when they were still together. Percy didn't know if the boy lived on campus or not, so he had no way to find him and ease his worry.

The whole rest of the day felt off to Percy. He wasn't able to enjoy lunch with his friends, Jason and Grover, nor was he able to focus long enough to try and do the reading for his other class.

At the end of the day, he went back to his dorm, his feet trudging along the path, hands deep in the pockets of his hoodie to keep out the autumn chill.

Just as he was padding along, passing through the little, park-like area, he noticed a small figure hunched over on a bench.

Even from fifty yards out, Percy could tell that it was Nico. His heart stopped momentarily before taking off like a race-horse. Even in the chill, his palms started sweating.

He was relieved to see Nico, but even as his heart raced, he picked up on the slump of the boy's shoulders, the rigidity of his curled form. Something was wrong, and even though Percy was practically a stranger, he knew he had to do something.

He approached Nico slowly, trying not to startle him. "Nico, right?" he finally asked when he was only ten feet away. Even though he knew Nico's name as surely as he knew it was autumn, he was trying to start a conversation without seeming like a stalker.

Nico's head snapped up at Percy's voice, and the older boy felt as if someone punched him in the chest when he saw tear tracks on the younger's face.

"Do I know you?" Nico questioned, his expression guarded.

Percy was surprised by Nico's caution, it did not seem at all like the boy in his class who was bold and bright. "Probably not, but I'm in your History class with Chiron. My name is Percy."

Nico sniffled, wiping his eyes on his hoodie's sleeve, but wincing as he moved. "Did you need something?"

Percy shifted back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. You weren't in class today, and I was worried that something might have happened to you."

Nico laughed, but the sound rang hollow. "No, nothing happened to me. I was just skipping class. That's what college kids do, right? I appreciate the sentiment, but I just didn't feel like going today."

Percy rolled his eyes. "No offense, but that's bull. You clearly love Ancient Civilizations. You went on an impassioned rant about Patroclus and Achilles, and I know that none of what you said was regurgitated from the book. You do extra research before class because you love it."

Nico glared. "Who do you think you are? I said I was fine!"

"Then why were you crying!?" Percy shouted in exasperation.

Nico jumped when Percy raised his voice, curling back into himself, and burying his face. Percy got a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Go away," Nico hissed.

"Nico, I'm sorry," Percy said softly. "I didn't mean to yell at you, I was just worried about you."

"Why would you worry about me? You don't even know me. You're a stranger," Nico reminded, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at Percy.

Percy was about to leave, but he caught a glimpse of a name, scribbled in familiar writing. Before Percy even leaned down to pick up the ball of paper, he murmured, "Bianca?"

He heard Nico gasp above him, and he raised his head to glance at the younger boy.

"How do you know that name?" Nico asked, his voice shaking.

 **A/N: Yay for drama. That was chapter one, there will be one or two more chapters, so please review if you want to see them! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!**


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